Microsoft Exchange Migration Wizard Problems

We got our two exchange servers that are resident on different forests talking to each other by setting up the 'bridgehead' of the two with a "Forward All Mail with unresolved Recipients to this host: x.x.x.x" setting under SMTP Virtual server properties --> Messaging Tab

Now that mail routing is working between domains/forests we have another problem with the migration of accounts. Below is the different methods we've used to migrate accounts and the results that we've seen.

Attempt #1: ADMT migrate a user, use Exmerge to export from source, use Exmerge to attempt to import unto target account

Attempt #2: ADMT migrate a user, use Exchange Migration Wizard to move them over after setting the “Associated External Account” permission to the Administrator account of the destination forest/domain

Result: Completes successfully but their mailbox doesn’t show up in the destination exchange server and their Exchange Home Server (under the Exchange General Tab) still is pointing to the old Exchange server resident on the old forest.

=================================================================

Attempt #3: Migrate the mailbox & user account with the Exchange Migration Wizard (does them together when it moves the mailbox) and then update groups memberships etc with ADMT.
Result: Seems to work great. The problem is that we’ve already migrated a few dozen user accounts.

Will we have to delete these from the destination domain in order to do the migration in this manner? Is there an easy way to move mailboxes in this circumstance where we won’t have to redo the initial migrations?

About attempt 1: to use exmerge to import PST file to the new account you first need to create a mailbox for this target account ! ADMT only creates new AD account but doesn't create a mailbox for it.

When you create the target mailbox you must ensure that the Exchange alias is matching the Exchange alias on the old mailbox because the PST file name must match with the alias to be imported. You may also rename the pst file before importing it.

About attempt 2: You must use the Exchange Migration Wizard (EMW) on the target Exchange server in the target AD forest so that EMW updates AD accounts in the target forest. Did you ?

Attempt 3 is probably not the good way to do that. Accounts shoule be created with ADMT so that ADMT can help you to process permissions on network shares and resources to allow new accounts to access shares in the old domain.

Are you ready to implement Active Directory best practices without reading 300+ pages?
You're in luck. In this webinar hosted by Skyport Systems, you gain insight into Microsoft's latest comprehensive guide, with tips on the best and easiest way…

Sometimes it takes a new vantage point, apart from our everyday security practices, to truly see our Active Directory (AD) vulnerabilities. We get used to implementing the same techniques and checking the same areas for a breach. This pattern can re…